No now that this particular cat is out of the bag, most owners of Samsung’s past phablet flagships will probably want to ask – is it worth it now to upgrade from a Note 5 or a Note 4 to the brand spanking new Samsung Galaxy Note 7? Well, there’s nothing left to do but to look at the specs and see for ourselves.
Display
This is probably the most boring spec of all to discuss. Since the Galaxy Note 4, Samsung has not put out a better display on its phablets than the same 5.7-inch QuadHD (2560×1440) Super AMOLED display that also featured on the Note 5, and is still the same display on the Galaxy Note 7. To be sure, there probably is no better 5.7-inch AMOLED display out on the market as of yet, and you will still be getting the same 518 ppi pixel density on the Note 7. Maybe it will be the dual curved edges that will catch your attention, or the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 – because it sure won’t be the quality of the display. Gorgeous, we grant, but still the same as last year’s and the year before that.
Processor and RAM
What you can say about the Galaxy Note 7 is that the processor will be a heck of a lot faster than the two previous models. If you’re paying premium for something in the Note 7, this would take the bulk of the cost. The Galaxy Note 7 will feature either an octa-core Exynos 8890 or a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, depending on which variant you get – but still, these will be the top tier processors available out in the market.
There were some rumors that the Note 7 will feature 6GB RAM, but that wasn’t to be. In fact, we’re kinda disappointed that Samsung did not go ahead with that. The 4GB RAM on the Note 7 is the same as with the Note 5. It would have been ok, had 6GB RAM not been available on other brands out there. But 6GB is already a real thing in smartphones – with the OnePlus 3, the ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe, and the Meizu Pro 6 just to name a few. It’s disappointing that people will be spending premium money for this phone, but they won’t be getting the top available RAM quantity in it.
Storage and Battery
It looks like Samsung will be going solely with 64GB for internal storage, and that’s a good thing. No more 32GB variants for you. Samsung is also going with microSD expansion for the Note 7, a very welcome feature indeed for all of you file hoarders. And for a limited time, you might want to avail of the promo where early buyers will be able to get a free 256 GB microSD card, among other rewards, just to really beef up your storage.
Last year’s Note 5 was actually a downgrade from the Note 4 in terms of battery capacity. Not so with the Note 7, we’re happy to report. The 3,500mAh battery on the Note 7 should be enough to last you a day and then some, on normal usage. Plus fast charging and wireless charging also come with the package to speed up your charging downtimes.
Camera and Biometrics
If you read the specs list alone, you might actually think that the 12MP camera on the Note 7 is a downgrade from the 16MP affair on the Note 5. But remember, this is the same dual-pixel camera on the Galaxy S7 edge, widely considered as the phone with the best camera out in the market today, so it is still a major upgrade.
In terms of security and biometrics, the Note 7 actually gives you something exciting in the iris scanning capability. No phone out there has this feature, and the Note 7 gives you this new security measure as well as the normal fingerprint scanning.
Conclusion
A lot of tech blogs are already nominating the Galaxy Note 7 as probably the best phone of the year. We will not be so quick to give our vote to that. But that being said, you only have to look at this gorgeous new phablet from Samsung to know that you are getting a tremendous upgrade from the Note 5. Heck, even the S-Pen is better than last year’s version of it. So if you’re still wondering if the Note 7 is worth the money – let us tell you that it probably is. If you’ve saved enough pennies to get this upgrade, or if money isn’t really an issue, we’d tell you to go for it. The Galaxy Note 7 – pricing still to be announced, mind you – will be worth every cent of its premium price point.
What’s you’re NOT getting:
IrDA, removable battery, a choice of non-edge screen, industry (or even brand) leading battery, industry leading processor…
P A S S
These may be big deals for you, but I seriously doubt that the “edge” screen will be a dealbreaker for most.
Upgrading from a Note 3, will miss the IR blaster for sure. Got a surprisingly large amount of use out of it.
not really impressed…i’ll be sticking with my note 4 until something that actually empowers me more comes along
No removable battery, no ir blaster so I think I’ll be using my note 4 for years to come. Hands down a way better device and provides better utility than Note 5 and 7. Samsung, go.old school and stop in innovation that is regressing.
I’ll be keeping my note 4. I’m really not happy with the edge on both sides of the screen or rather the lack choice to not have them. I don’t want another phone with an edge, just a regular phone with a stylus. No IR blaster which means bye bye to peel smart remote which was introduced to me on my Note 3. Probably one of my most used apps. I don’t see any additions to the phone that would justify spending $800 on one when you can get a Note 4 for $250. Sorry Samsung, in my opinion you missed a great opportunity with this phone and struck out.
Like everyone else has mentioned (battery, IR and marginal upgrades like 1GB more ram), I’ll be keeping my Note 4 for years to come, as I have 3 additional OEM batteries that costed me $60 at Walmart which will keep this phone running like new esp. after the Marshmellow update. What I’ve would’ve liked to have seen is the phablet turn into a power users dream, a ultra mobile PC. If they invested their time in creating a VM to allow users to install Linux/Windows 10 with 8GB RAM, you could have some serious productivity from your smart phone. But no, let’s build a iris scanner instead, lock down the battery, remove the IR and marginally upgrade certain things.
Here we go. Another note 4 owner not letting go. Whether you can do this or that to your phone, the note 4 is basically prehistoric now in the phone game.
Fact.
Should I say this? your note 7 will be history of a phone 2 years later !! But, Note 4 will still alive with it’s battery.
Fact.
Note 7 is good, But I prefer Note 4 because it’s not fragile like note 7 glass that would break easily. Also, swap battery is better than any fast charging and removable battery is better choice because battery will degrade. As long as note 4 user won’t have problem with an apk that can’t run in their smartphone, Note 4 will live very long time, in years.